No headway yet in Indian American student’s death probe

New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) With autopsy report awaited, Delhi Police Tuesday failed to make any headway in the investigation into the kiling of an American Indian student in Mukherjee Nagar, area near Delhi University, a day earlier. “We cannot say anything before the post-mortem. It will only be done when the parents of the victim (Keanan Mehra) reach the capital. They are expected to arrive today (Tuesday) evening,” said a police official investigating the death.

Mehra, 22, was found lying dead in a pool of blood with a kitchen knife stuck in his neck and blunt head injuries, when the police Monday morning broke open his rented one-room Hudson Lane house.

His landlord Harjeet Singh was the last man to see him Saturday noon.

The police have registered a case of murder.

“The house was bolted from inside and we had break it open. No valuables were missing and everything was intact. We strongly think that Keanan Mehra might have committed suicide. But stab injuries have left police in a tizzy,” the official said.

“The report on finger prints lifted from the kitchen knife would throw some light on the matter. We are right know waiting for his parents’ arrival,” the official added.

Mehra, who hailed from Norwalk city in the US, came here less than two months ago to study philosophy. He rented the house April 8 after staying for a while with his aunt and local guardian Chetna Kapoor, who lives in Vaishali, Ghaziabad.

The victim’s father Achal Mehra is editor of Little India, a diaspora magazine, while his mother works with an American NGO.

The police said Mehra’s friends were being questioned to get more details on him.

Many foreign students of Delhi University were shocked to hear of the incident though they said the university neighbourhood never had any security problems.

“Though there are sporadic incidents of purse snatchings and women’s molestation, we never had any security problems while living near the university,” Nishadi Withanachchi, a 23-year-old Sri Lankan final-year student of the Sri Ram College of Commerce, told IANS.

“People are very friendly and concerned. In the past three years, none of the students from Sri Lanka has approached the police with a complaint even for trivial issues,” said Withanachchi, who lives in a rented flat in Mukherjee Nagar.

A police official said foreign students are informed about the laws of the land though no specific guidelines are issued to them.

“Embassies of various countries from time to time issue advisories for their nationals in the capital. We have never faced any security related problems concerning foreign students,” he said.